


A Day Of Disasters

by earlgreyteawrites



Category: Voltron - Fandom, klance - Fandom
Genre: Comfort fic, Gay Keith, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, bi lance, klance, klance fic, klance fluff, klangst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-16
Updated: 2019-01-16
Packaged: 2019-10-11 08:00:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17443004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/earlgreyteawrites/pseuds/earlgreyteawrites
Summary: ‘CRACK!’The sound had reminded Lance of what it sounded like for a baseball bat to be broken over something. Glass shattered everywhere and the lifeless sentries had fallen to the floor, but it had all come at a price.At that moment, it was clear that they’d made it through as deactivated sentries were sucked into the void of space. Pidge yelled something over the coms that was a clearly a victory cry and the others announced their status their voice all filled with absolute delight and relief. They’d defeated the ship, they’d made it through. The paladins had saved the day once again and all was well.Until Lance realized that Keith’s helmet was lying cracked open, bloody fingerprints making it obvious that the was dragged out into the hole in the wall.





	A Day Of Disasters

‘CRACK!’

The sound had reminded Lance of what it sounded like for a baseball bat to be broken over something. Glass shattered everywhere and the lifeless sentries had fallen to the floor, but it had all come at a price.

At that moment, it was clear that they’d made it through as deactivated sentries were sucked into the void of space. Pidge yelled something over the coms that was a clearly a victory cry and the others announced their status their voice all filled with absolute delight and relief. They’d defeated the ship, they’d made it through. The paladins had saved the day once again and all was well.

Until Lance realized that Keith’s helmet was lying cracked open, bloody fingerprints making it obvious that the was dragged out into the hole in the wall. No...oh god, no no no!

Amidst the victory cries, Lance let out a scream that sliced through the excitement.

“Keith! Keith?!” he grabbed Keith’s helmet and ran for the shattered windows, throwing himself out into space. The remains of sentries were scattered everywhere, various bolts and wires floating aimlessly about. They crowded the area, making it nearly impossible to see anyone or anything else.

“Keith!” Lance screamed again. It had been seconds, but it felt like forever had passed. Without his helmet, Keith could die out here, and it would only take a minute, likely less. And though Lance’s screaming was useless, he did it anyways, punching on his boosters in the desperate attempt to find the red paladin.

He zoomed around at the speed out sound, desperately navigating the wreckage.

“Lance, what’s happening?!” Hunk asked frantically.

“Keith! Keith, he got sucked out!”

“Lance, chill out-”

“He doesn’t have his helmet!”

After a brief moment of silence, every started freaking out.

“Oh my god! Where is he Lance?!”

“I don’t know!” Lance practically sobbed.

“He’s going to die out there!”

“Lance you have to find him!”

“I can’t see him!” Lance screamed. Their voices all mixed in his ears, chaos quickly forming as Lance looked around desperately, starting to cry.

“EVERYONE SHUT UP!” Pidge yelled at the top of her lungs.

Everyone promptly shut up.

“Lance, he’s in the wreckage on your left, I sent you his coordinates. Go!” Lance didn’t hesitate, his adrenaline fueling him as he burst toward the coordinates, approaching faster and faster and faster. If there was air in space, his hair would be whipping around like crazy and his whole face would likely be stretched out way too far.

And then, in the distance of nothingness Lance made out a tiny red dot. Keith had gone nearly three kilometers from the ship in less than a minute. Wreckage was surrounding him, and as Lance drew closer, it wasn’t pretty. Three deactivated sentries surrounded him, and in the process of being sucked into the void, Keith was sliced down the neck.

He was frozen, literally frozen; a small layer of ice had coated his body. And when Lance finally got there, he found Keith gasping like a fish, his whole body ten times paler than it should’ve been.

There was screaming and crying coming from the coms, but despite all the distractions, Lance had never been quicker than he was at that moment. He clicked a button on his headset and the oxygen mask flew out. Lance pressed it to Keith’s face, listening to him gasp and cough as he was finally able to breathe.

Through his hair, Lance could see frozen blood staining his skin. He’d been hit, likely in the process of being sucked out into space. Lance carefully pressed the mask, watching as it engulfed the rest of Keith’s head in a clear bubble, much like a helmet, only far less protective. He would've given Keith his helmet, but its damage made it clear that Keith wasn’t going to be protected by it, Lance’s suit was the only definite answer.

Keith shut his eyes and continued to gasp desperately, his entire body swelling with each effort. Lance let out another quiet sob, only this time it was relief as he gathered Keith into his arms, holding him close.

“He’s safe. I got him.” Lance barely managed to croak, trying not to look at the blood on Keith’s scalp. The announcement was met with sighs of relief and thankfulness of Keith’s survival, but Lance couldn’t bear to focus on anything else but Keith right now.

“I’ll grab Blue and meet you back at the castle. He’ll be fine until we get back. I think I’m going to lose connection here, bye.” Lance made a fake buzzing noise before turning off his coms, watching Keith continue to breathe shakily in his arms.

He looked so vulnerable and weak, like a newborn baby. He panted softly, physically unable to move in any way. The frost that had been coating him melted, leaving signs of a few bits of glass that had shattered in his hair and revealing that the blood was coming from an enormous piece of metal that had pierced into Keith’s skull.

By the size of it and how far it had gone in, Lance highly doubted it gave Keith much more than a concussion. Nothing to worry about, but he still cried as he held Keith, terrified that he might just die right then and there.

“It’s okay.” Lance whispered as Keith whimpered. “I’ve got you, I’ve got you, I swear.”  Keith’s whimpers lessened just slightly after Lance said this, closing his eyes. Lance listened to make sure Keith was still breathing as he navigated back to the exploded base where Blue had been parked.

During that time, Keith weakly grabbed onto Lance’s neck, his fingers feeling like literal jello. His breath circulated into Lance’s own helmet, which in turn allowed Lance to experience the absolutely frigid air that was being pumped out of his body. But what was worse than that was the fact that Lance had to look at Keith’s face.

He was undoubtedly terrified, his crinkling as they stayed closed. And every few seconds or so, it looked like he would try to say something, at least a little something, but all that really came out was, ‘Ah.’ and tiny squeaks.

“Shh.” Lance whispered, hoping that Keith would save his air. After all, if he’d tried to suck in air in the vacuum of space, his lung would have undoubtedly ruptured. It had been their first lesson as pilots, but Keith might’ve been unable to help it, he’d been without oxygen so long. “I know it hurts, but you have to save your breaths, I’m going to help you.” Lance mumbled, keeping his voice as soft as possible as they landed.

The gravity from the base had gone, but it didn’t matter. Lance simply jumped from place to place, relieved to find Blue safely tucked away in the spot that he’d left her. She opened her jaw, allowing them to step inside.

The lights turned on as Lance ascended quickly to the cockpit, only stopping to grab a first aid kit. Keith continued to breathe with Lance’s temporary oxygen, but thankfully the moment Blue closed her jaw, the air with oxygen once again.

“Hey.” Lance whispered to Keith, “You stayed alive for me, good job.” Lance knew Keith was trying to smile, but it obviously hurt to try, so Lance decided to refrain from any more comments.

Instead, Lance bent down, carefully removing the mask. Keith took in a breath that made it sound like he was sobbing, which he partially was. A couple tears slipped down his cheeks, clearly pained ones, but that was all he seemed to be able to do to communicate his physical condition.

“Armor’s coming off, I have to check to see if your lung ruptured.” Lance explained, carefully tapping at Keith’s armor. Piece by piece it slowly came off, and soon Keith was left with his undersuit half off, his chest exposed.

Lance cranked up the temperature to keep Keith warm and waved the little x-ray wand over Keith chest. And, sure enough, it hard burst, and it wasn’t exactly pretty. Thankfully the lung hadn’t completely destroyed itself, a couple hours in the healing pod would ensure he was fine, but it was still concerning.

“Here sweetheart.” Lance mumbled softly. Normally he would never use that nickname, but he wasn’t exactly worried about that right now. “Take this painkiller.” Lance managed to get Keith to open his mouth. The red paladin managed to swallow, making a disgusted face as it went down. “I know. I know.” Lance sighed softly, “It’s gross, but good job.”

Lance cupped Keith’s cheek in his hand as gently as he could, rubbing away his tears.

“Blue, take us back.” Lance requested, and without even stepping behind the controls, Blue was off.

Lance gathered Keith into his lap, holding him nice and close. The boy was clearly in a bit of a haze, but he would be fine. In that moment, Lance was so relieved Keith was alive. He might have to struggle for a couple more minutes, but Keith wasn’t about to die today, he was going to be alright.

“Mm.” Keith mumbled, clearly pained. His hand lifted weakly to cup Lance’s cheek back. “Crying.” he squeezed out.

That wasn’t really hard to believe, Lance still was a little freaked out.

“Yeah, you scared me.” Lance admitted, “But don’t talk Samurai, and don’t move too much either. Your lung isn’t doing well.”

“Thanks.” Keith muttered.

“...You’re welcome, but no talking.” Lance sighed, pushing a finger to Keith’s lips. “Shush.”

Keith managed to put a frown on his face, pouting just slightly. At least he was back to normal for the most part. Lance smiled a bit, daring to bend down a little closer than would be suggested.

“Yeah, I know it sucks, but I don’t want you to be in pain.” Lance explained softly. But just as he was about to give Keith’s nose a little flick, Keith’s fingers tightened slightly on his face.

And, much to Lance’s surprise, Keith kissed his cheek tenderly and lovingly. More soft and gentle than Lance had ever experienced. None of the girls Lance had ever gotten a kiss from (which wasn’t many) could kiss him as delicately as Keith had.

When he let go, Keith’s cheeks were rather pinkish, but he stayed silent, leaving Lance to gape. I mean, sure, it hadn’t been a real kiss considering Lance’s helmet was in the way, but it was still a kiss to some degree…

“...Uh.” Lance mumbled pathetically. Keith turned his head away, refusing to look at him entirely.

“Saved me. Love you.” he muttered. Lance wanted to screech at him for talking, but now was  _ not  _ the best time for that. Love you?...Love you?! What did he mean by  _ that?! _

But just as Lance was about to ask, Blue shuttered and rocked them around, she did that sometimes on auto pilot. But it wasn’t so good when Keith flinched, starting to pant again.

“Ow! Ow! Ow!” he repeated over and over again, weakly holding his side.

“What’s wrong?” Lance asked frantically, “Are you okay? Tell me what’s wrong.” 

Keith pushed down his suit to clutch the area, revealing that Lance had accidentally prodded a gigantic bruise that was already taking shape. At the sight of that, Lance quickly checked the x-ray again to find some of his ribs had cracked.

“Shh.” Lance comforted quickly, dipping Keith back into his original position on the floor. Keith continued to moan and whimper helplessly, but there was very little Lance could do about that; the painkiller still had a minute or two to kick in.

Lance pulled off his helmet, setting it besides Keith’s cracked one and crawled as close to Keith as he could manage, grasping the boy’s hand in hopes that squeezing it could help ease the pain.

He was still confused as to why Keith had kissed him. After all, Keith was loopy and had a piece of metal wedged in his head along with lack of oxygen due to a ruptured lung and cracked ribs. Not the best combination to ensure that Keith had actually meant that kiss. Lance knew this was a really stupid thing to be thinking about when Keith was in so much pain, but what else was he supposed to think about? It wasn’t like Keith was dying and there was very little Lance could do to keep Keith’s comfort.

That and Lance liked Keith... _ really  _ liked Keith. He’d dreamed of the day that he got a kiss off of his gentle lips, and technically it had been today. Although he wasn’t entirely sure if Keith had meant it. But Lance wasn’t about to ask that question, because if he did Keith would have to strain himself to answer. That was honestly less ideal then the ‘never getting an answer’ possibility about that little kiss on the helmet.

Keith was clearly not having the most fun. He continued to look completely miserable as he painted deeply, his fingers clutching Lance’s as hard as he could, which was barely anything at all. He sobbed weakly, which clearly hurt him, leaving him to cry some more.

Lance hugged Keith's face to his chest, doing his best not to touch the metal that still peeked through his soft, raven colored hair. Lance felt awful to have prodded his ribs, he’d just been so shocked by Blue’s sudden movements that he didn’t realize he’d started to move his position.

“It’s okay, it’s okay, I’m here.”

“Sorry.” Keith blubbered. Lance wasn’t sure what he was apologizing for, but shushed him quietly anyways.

“No more talking, just breathe, we’re almost there.”

“I-”

“Keith.”

“Bad-”

“Keith, it’s okay, shush.”

Keith let out a sob, “Kiss, you.” that seemed like it was all he could push out. He wheezed, his whole body going limp. And yet somehow he continued to sob despite how much it was obviously hurting him, clinging to Lance with the little strength he had.

Lance couldn’t speak for a moment. He didn’t know what was going through Keith's mind right now, but he was clearly in more distress than Lance originally thought.

In reply to the red paladin’s hysterics, Lance knew that the only thing he could likely do was to hold him, so he did, allowing Keith to slump against him as he very carefully wrapped his arms around him, not wanting to inflict any more pain on him. He’d gone through so much in so little time, and now he seemed to be freaking about something to do with the kiss. And though it was probably better to focussing on the ladder, Lance didn’t want him to end up puncturing another lung because of that.

But as Keith started to freak out more, literally sobbing his guts out, Blue landed in the docking bay. There couldn’t be any delay in getting Keith to a healing pod. And as much as Lance wanted to calm Keith down to spare him some humiliation, he knew he couldn’t.

Lance quickly and carefully gathered Keith back in his arms, making sure he didn’t put any pressure on Keith’s injured areas. He tried to ignore his loud sobs, running right for the med bay.

“Shh.” Lance tried to comfort him. “Shush shh. It’s okay. It’s okay.” he tenderly wiped a tear off Keith’s cheek before he found the door to the med bay, opening it quickly.

Everyone was already waiting, a healing pod was up and ready Coran had a pair of what looked like...pliers.  _ That _ was encouraging.

“His suit sent a message that his head had been injured. Shiro, knock him out.”

Keith sobbed for a second longer, clearly having trouble processing what was happening; Lance didn’t blame him, everything seemed a little blurry at the moment. But the second Shiro injected him, he abruptly went quiet, his body going deadweight against Lance’s chest. He was unconscious.

Lance, nor did anyone else decide to watch as Coran pulled the metal from Keith’s head, confirming that it has not punctured his skull and that they had no reason to worry. Everyone relaxed at that and Lance decided to be the one to place Keith in the healing pod after wards.

But as Lance was about to situate the red paladin inside, he thought about the kiss just for a moment. 

Despite the fact that it wasn’t on Lance’s real cheek or anything, it might as well have been. And the whole little ‘love you’ comment was still confusing him. There was a million things he wanted to say, to ask, but now wasn’t the time for that. So he took the moment to press a delicate kiss against Keith's forehead,

“It’s alright buddy, I’ll get you out in a couple hours.” he confirmed softly, his voice gentle as ever. “I’ll be here.”

And with that, Lance closed him safely inside, Coran clicking the buttons that needed to be pressed to ensure the boy would be healed correctly. And just seconds later, Keith was officially quarantined.

Much to Lance’s relief, nobody mentioned his little display of affection and moved on to do whatever it was they were planning to do. Most of the time everyone would wait, but Coran had said it would be at least six hours. That was a little bit too long for anyone to simply just be sitting around, especially after a successful (and also traumatising) mission, so they left Lance in his lonesome. At least, everyone apart from Hunk.

He seemed to have prepared for this, drawing several blanket and pillows from a corner where he appeared to have stuffed them. Hunk knew Lance well enough to understand that he wasn’t about to leave. He’d known about Lance’s long standing crush for quite some time now, and he probably hadn’t forgotten a couple of the fantasies Lance had shared with him. Namely one of those being the moment that Keith fell out of a healing pod and Lance would passionately kiss him afterwards, but he doubted that would happen.

“You kissed him.” Hunk mentioned, which caused Lance’s face to erupt in a soft pink.

“Well, he kissed  _ me _ first, so...”

“He kissed you?!” Hunk practically screeched, chucking a pillow at Lance’s face. It hit him square in the jaw, knocking him to the carpet of blankets they’d set up to build a fort.

“Wait! I-I don’t think it was for real though.” Hunk stopped amidst his squealing, pausing for a brief moment before his face drew into a frown.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he sighed, noticing how confused Lance likely looked. Lance fell silent for a second, grabbing the pillow Hunk and thrown at him. He held it tightly against his chest and dared to glance at Keith.

“...It was after he was injured, he was in a haze, I doubt he meant it.” Lance confessed.

Hunk plopped himself down besides Lance in their little blanket pile, his face holding sympathy for Lance’s situation.

“Well, I guess we’ll see when he gets out of there, won’t we?”

“Yeah, but what if he doesn’t remember?”

“And what if he does?”

“...Touche.” Lance mumbled, continuing to look at Keith. He knew he probably shouldn’t be considering he was practically butt naked, the only thing covering him being his red boxers which looked uncomfortably tight. Normally they would put him in that suit thing, but it was kind of tight so it gave the possibility that his lung and his ribs would worsen if they put it on. That and the fact that he would have to be naked in front of everyone for that made it a very unpleasant scenario, so it wasn’t done.

But Lance wasn’t focussed on his butt (that would be weird anyways), instead his eyes were drawn to the huge bruise on his side and the blood trickling down his face from Coran’s two second operation. 

Personally, Lance’s cryopod experience had been extremely traumatic. He was stuck in this sort of crazy dream-land that kept replaying the scenes of himself getting injured as well as Shiro getting pummeled and very vague glimpses of Keith holding him get to his chest, comforting him. And though the Keith parts hadn’t been so bad, everything else had been nightmarish; thus overriding the other sensations.

Lance was sure Keith was experiencing a similar sensation that his had been. Personally, he would never wish that pain and terror on anyone but stupid Zarkon and Haggar, and to know that Keith was feeling all of that in this moment(or at least something similar)...it was unsettling. Keith’s hair floated in the jelly, which sort of made him look like an angel. But despite his beauty, his face had frozen into a crinkled expression, his tears floating off and mixing with the healing jelly that filled the pod.

“You know looking only makes it worse, Lance” Hunk sighed, gently tugging at Lance’s arm. He turned himself away from the unsettling sight, letting out a shaky breath. “...Do you feel like talking about what happened? We all know you turned off the coms, was it because he kissed you?”

“No...no, it was after we got in Blue. No offense but all the noise you guys were making was just stressing me out. By then I still wasn’t completely sure if he was gonna make it.”

“Ah…” Hunk mumbled, reaching out to hold Lance’s hand. It was a gesture they often did with one another, even at the Garrison. It got them a lot of questions and comments like the age old ‘Hunk and La-ance sitting in a tree’ thing, but it wasn't a romantic gesture. Lance had always held people’s hands for comfort (whether it be himself or for that other person), just as he’d done with Keith when he was wheezing inside of Blue earlier. Hunk had picked up on it and done it ever since.

“I know you’ve liked him for a long time.” Hunk whispered softly, “Your brain must be going all over the place.”

“That’s an understatement.” Lance sighed, “...I just want to know if he meant it. But if he doesn’t remember…” Lance squeezed Hunk’s hand for some sort of reassurance, “I don’t want to make this about me, he’s the one that went through all the hard stuff-”

“Maybe, but that doesn’t invalidate your feelings.” Hunk corrected, “That’s why I’m here, so you can talk about this stuff when you feel like you can’t.” Lance had to admit, that comment got him a little teary eyed.

The blue paladin nuzzled comfortably against Hunk, closing his eyes. “I was so scared Hunk. He wouldn’t stop trying to talk to me. And his lung ruptured, I couldn’t just let him keep going. I’m not a doctor or anything, but I don’t think people with ruptured lungs are supposed to be chattering away.”

“What was he saying?” Hunk asked, an innocent question for someone so oblivious to the situation. But for Lance stuff suddenly got a little personal. ‘Love you’ rang through his mind again and he couldn’t help but stare at Keith’s limp body once again.

“...He was just making noises, saying sorry and crying a little, not really anything significant; I think he was just freaked out.” Lance replied. Not really a lie, but not the whole truth either. “I wish he would just wake up Hunk.”

“I know buddy, I want him to be okay too.”

“But do you even think he’ll want to talk about it if he remembers all of this? Keith...he just, he doesn’t like to talk about this sort of thing. Wh-what if he doesn’t want to talk to me at  _ all _ -”

“Hey.” Hunk mumbled, “You saved his life. There’s going to be a conversation at some point or another.” the yellow paladin rose and stretched, leaving Lance on the blankets, “Now, let’s get to building this blanket fort and I’ll make some grub for when Keith pops out.”

“Sure.” Lance agreed, his voice feeling a little weak.

“Oh, and I’ll ask the others to wait a bit when he comes out just so certain someone can’t avoid you.” Lance relaxed slightly at that, managing a smile.

“Thanks man.”

****

Normally, waiting for four to six hours wasn’t extremely painful. He’d already spent one of those hours with Hunk, the other talking to him and making a blanket fort and the other waiting for food to come.

But when Hunk had handed him the covered plates of some sort of cuisine masterpiece, he hadn’t stayed like Lance thought he would. Apparently Pidge really needed his help on something. He’d promised to tell the others to leave them alone when Keith came out, so Lance supposed he’d do that as well, but without his friend there with him...he couldn’t help but feel anxious.

His stomach churned as he sat and watched, the minutes ticking by slower than Lance would’ve liked them to. Keith continued to float, that same awful expression still on his face. Occasionally he would twitch, which prompted Lance to believe he was coming out, but he never was.

Lance could be patient when it mattered, but in situations like this, he had a really hard time with it. He paced, he bit his nails, he ripped through a pillow (on accident), he hummed to himself loudly, he twitched. God he was such a mess. But it was impossible to wait for so long. Lance couldn’t even calm himself down with a small daydream about Keith, because the moment Keith came into his mind he thought about the kiss and how he’d started to lose it afterwards. That...that meant he didn’t like it, right? Or was it him just being nervous about it? Lance just wanted to know!

But just as the blue paladin was starting to lose it, there was a loud hissing noise.

Lance snapped his head towards Keith’ healing pod, finding that the healing jelly was draining rapidly. He rushed over without a second thought, his heart pounding in his chest as he carefully positioned himself so that Keith could be caught.

The pod buzzed and beeped for what felt like hours, but finally the doors opened and Keith immediately lurched forwards. And, as he was prepared to, Lance nabbed him, holding him carefully. He didn’t even care that Keith’s body was coated in a thin coat of jelly, or that he was standing in his underwear. If just felt good to know that he was okay. And now...they could talk.

Keith groaned weakly, his hands moving on Lance’s back. It seemed he was trying to register who exactly Lance was, but before he could get the opportunity to asses that, Lance carefully led him over to the showers.

Without a word, Keith followed, his whole body swaying despite the fact that he was leaning on Lance for support. Lance placed the red paladin on a stool ad brushed some of the jelly that had been smeared on his clothes.

“I’m going to hose you off, m’kay.” he explained, but Keith didn't seem to understand what was happening. Regardless, Lance took the sprayer and carefully turned it on, moving the water so it washed away all the jelly.

At first Keith seemed kind of surprised, maybe even a little scared, but after a little bit, he seemed to at least partially register what was happening in his half sleep. He kept his eyes closed as Lance delicately brushed away some jelly on his shoulders and bangs, occasionally trying to lean on him.

“Are you sleepy?” Lance asked as he finished hosing off Keith’s body.

“Mm.” he mumbled. Lance managed to smile. He’d felt very similar for the first ten or so minutes, but it would fade eventually...at least he hoped. They still hadn’t talked about anything. And though Lance was thankful he was okay, he really needed to talk about the kiss, that is, if Keith even so much as remembered it.

Lance did his best to be patient, rubbing Keith’s hair dry with a towel as Keith worked at the rest of himself. And after a bit of fussing over him and a very slow and dragging process of getting Keith dressed, he was officially clean and dry, but he was still exhausted. 

He moaned weakly as Lance carefully brought him into the blanket fort, wrapping him up so that he was warm. It was freezing in the cryopods compared to the temperature outside, Lance had discovered, so he made sure to bundle him carefully.

“You need to eat.” Lance murmured, unwrapping the food Hunk had prepared a little while ago. Keith didn’t really react when Lance pulled a spoon out, so he supposed Keith was a little too weak for that, resorting to feeding him. 

It was less than an ideal situation, but at least Keith wasn’t trying to avoid him, so Lance figured it could be worse.

“...Do you remember anything?” Lance prompted softly, watching as Keith ate off the spoon he was offering.  All of his movements were weak, so it wasn’t a surprise when he didn’t answer. Instead, Keith slumped against Lance’s shoulder, closing his eyes. He brought up his hand, which very slowly glided across Lance’s chest before it rested over is heart.

Lance had to admit, _ that  _ surprised him, but he didn’t mind the closeness they were sharing. He wrapped his arm around Keith’s shoulder, holding him gently as he continued to spoon some food goo into his mouth. Keith nuzzled into his neck affectionately, keeping his face there as he chewed lazily.

“...Sorry.” he mumbled through a mouthful of food. Lance tried not to act surprised, knowing that Keith was probably putting a lot of effort into talking right now.

“For what?”

“...Kissing you.” he swallowed thickly, and when Lance looked at him, he couldn’t help but notice how red in the face he was. “...I don’t know how to start this.” he murmured, “There’s a lot of secrets I’ve been keeping from you.” he swallowed again, only this time he seemed to be trying to stop tears.

Lance deducted that this might take a little while choosing to place the plate of food down to the side so he could wrap his other arm around Keith.

“It’s alright.” Lance confirmed quietly, “You can take your time.” Lance tried not to sigh with relief. How could he  _ not  _ feel relieved? He was worried that they wouldn’t even  _ talk  _ to one another, but Keith had started the conversation.

Keith pressed himself close to Lance.

“...Even if you get mad at me...can you wait till I’m done talking?” he pleaded quietly.

“I won’t be mad. And if I do get mad for some reason, don’t worry...I won’t leave.” Lance promised, running his fingers up and down Keith’s back.

At first he had a bit of a hard time, Keith couldn’t seem to get a single word out. He continued to swallow down tears and Lance could feel his violent shaking. But he finally managed to squeeze out,

“...I’ve had a crush on you since the Garrison.”

And it all blubbered out from there.

Lance had to admit, that probably wasn’t the best way for Keith to start off because he automatically started to freak out in his head and was starting to lose his attention a little bit. But somehow he managed to focus on what Keith had been saying. And Lance quickly grew to understand how important this conversation was going to be.

Keith described how he’d struggled for years at the Garrison because he’d been bullied for looking at Lance in a bit of a romantic way (who apparently was oblivious to this the whole time!). He described how he’d thought Lance’s name was Taylor and when Lance corrected him he was so confused for the longest time, debating whether the two had been the same person. He explained how he’d felt when Lance had flirted with Allura, and his complicated feelings when Shiro had disappeared along with the mixture of his fear of developing a larger crush on Lance.

Keith began to cry when he started talking about the Blade and how he’d used it to try and run away. He blubbered about how much he’d missed Lance and how lonely he’d been. And despite finding his mother, he just couldn’t keep that wholeness that he’d had while he was here.

Then, lastly, he described his fear of death as he was shot out into space just under eight hours ago. He described how he genuinely thought he might die and the reason that he’d kissed Lance was so it would be the last thing he felt.

And after nearly an hour’s worth of talking, Lance was left with Keith looking at him. The red paladin had tear stains covering his cheeks and his face had grown into an immensely red color. He was clearly waiting for an answer.

After everything Keith had described and said, Lance doubted he could create any sort of satisfactory reply. Keith had just poured his  _ soul  _ out to Lance for god sakes! Saying ‘oh, I like you too’ would be like someone getting you a thousand dollar flat screen and then you getting them a jar of dirt.

So Lance went for the only thing he could do to describe what he felt back to Keith.

And he kissed him.

****

Keith froze in Lance’s lap, his whole body stiffening for a moment. But as Lance kissed a little bit softer and a bit deeper, Keith relaxed against him.

Lance moved carefully, gently. He didn’t dare to move fast or do anything to scare Keith. He was still vulnerable after what he’d confessed to Lance, and something deeper than this might freak him out.

Keith’s sheet cocoon unraveled slightly as he stayed against Lance, extremely still. Clearly this was his first kiss, which only prompted Lance to be more gentle. He took the arm around Keith’s shoulder, using it to carefully navigate through his locks. They were so soft and a bit damp, but still beautiful.

With his other hand, Lance gently pushed up Keith’s shirt, holding him a bit closer. His skin was baby soft and felt extremely cold under his fingertips. Poor thing, he was colder than Lance thought. He’d have to warm him up a little bit.

After a few moments, Keith began to realize that it was okay to kiss back. So he began to move as well. His attempted were a bit sloppy and awkward, but Lance was okay with that, in fact he preferred it. If it wasn’t at least a little awkward, it wouldn’t be Keith.

The red paladin took the liberty of cupping Lance’s face, his thumbs running over Lance’s freckles delicately. If Lance had his eyes open, guaranteed Keith would look like a pufferfish, so he dared to peek, finding he was exactly correct. God he was adorable.

Finally they took a breath, sighing quietly against one another. That was probably the longest Lance had ever kissed someone, but he loved every second.

Keith held Lance’s shirt tightly in his fist, his entire face still blooming. Lance confirmed that this was  _ definitely  _ his first kiss, but his own face wasn’t any less pink than the red paladin’s.

“...You…” Keith breathed, but he obviously couldn’t put it into words.

“Yeah, I...I didn’t want to just say it after you confessed all of that.” Lance admitted.

“B-but you…”

“Yeah I do.” Lance murmured. 

****

“I love you.”

****

Silence passed between them once again. All they could do was stare, but it somehow wasn’t awkward. Instead it was a moment to take in everything that had happened, a moment to appreciate each other and what they had.

Keith suddenly burrowed his face back into Lance’s chest, breathing out deeply.

“I wasn’t expecting that.” he whispered.

Lance chuckled softly, but he understood how Keith felt. This was the last thing Lance had expected to happen today. And in all the places it could’ve been, it was here in a blanket fort by the healing pods. A little anticlimactic, but still just as wonderful as anywhere would’ve been to kiss Keith.

“...I’ll tell you my half later.” Lance explained quietly, “You’ve gone through a lot today.” he reached out and wiped at a tear stain on Keith’s cheek. And after a slight moment of hesitation, he kissed Keith’s forehead delicately, wrapping him back up in the blankets.

Keith blushed feverishly, but he didn’t seem to mind their closeness. In fact, he really took advantage of it, nuzzling closer and closer to Lance.

“...You really...you really love me?” he croaked.

“Yeah. I love you.” Lance confirmed softly.

“...You’re serious?” Lance had never seen Keith look so insecure, but to be fair this was an easy thing for anyone to be a little anxious about. Keith had just liked him for so long, it wasn’t a surprise that he was scared.

“Absolutely.” Lance confirmed softly, punctuating it with another soft kiss on the lips. He could feel a lopsided, nervous smile curving on Keith’s lips in those moments; it was the cutest thing ever. Lance held him close and gentle, continuing to kiss him a moment longer before he let go, leaving a thumb to drift across Keith’s lips.

The red paladin looked like he might pass out, but at least he was smiling. He breathed deeply against Lance, clearly in a bit of shock after the sudden expression of affection. Lance couldn’t wait to kiss him more and longer. And more importantly, he wanted as much time with Keith as he could get.

“I’m so glad you’re okay.” Lance said softly.

“Yeah, me too.” Keith mumbled back, his voice weaker than it was before. “Thanks for saving me.”

“No problem samurai. I’ll always have your back.”

“Same goes for you sharpshooter.”

The both giggled a little bit, then relaxed, appreciating each others soft touches. But as they sat together a little longer, it was apparent how exhausted Keith was. The healing pod took it out of some people, so he prompted Keith to rest, satisfied when the boy finally closed his eyes.

And as Keith slowly fell asleep, Lance couldn’t help but look at every little part of his beautiful face and think about every little part that made Keith. He was just... _ amazing _ , and that word couldn’t even do a justice.

But as the clock ticked and Lance held Keith, their time was taken away.

The other paladins walked in quietly at the sight of a sleeping Keith cocooned in a blanket fort, completely unaware of everything that had just happened between them. They asked a couple quiet questions, mostly just ‘is he okay’s’ and Coran threw in a couple comments about how he’d be in more of a vegetative state for the next couple hours. Lance didn’t mind that, rather he was thankful that Keith would rest.

And after the conformation that Keith would be fine, most of the other paladin’s left, once again Hunk staying behind. He stood for a moment, clearly prepared to leave them be if he needed to.

“...Are you okay Lance?” Hunk asked softly, though it couldn’t be more apparent that Lance was doing just fine as he cradled Keith to his chest, his lips still tingling with kisses.

“Yeah.” Lance admitted, glancing down at Keith for just a moment, “...I’m better than okay.” he smiled at Keith, resisting the urge to kiss his face.

“Alright.” Hunk confirmed, turning around to leave. “Oh, and Lance.”

“Yeah?”

“Keith always told me he thought you’d be a good kisser.”

Lance gaped for a second, hardly believing the words that had come out of his best friend’s mouth.

“Wait, what? Hunk- don’t you run away from me! Get back here-” but it was too late, Hunk shut the door behind him, leaving Lance in a blushy mess, but it was the good kind. Of course Hunk would do that, that little gremlin. He was hanging out with Pidge too much.

But despite that, Lance looked at Keith for another moment, laughing to himself,

“God...this is going to be a wild ride, isn’t it?” naturally Keith didn’t respond, his sleeping face unmoving; but Lance didn’t need him to say anything. He simply pecked him on the forehead again, cuddling up to him, all the while thinking about everything they would do together from now on.


End file.
